On long-haul flights it is possible for the legally permitted work hours for an aircrew to be exceeded. There may thus be a legal requirement from a certain flight duration onwards to carry along a replacement crew or change crew. In order to provide this additional aircrew during that part of a flight when they are not on duty with adequate rest and relaxation in order to take up duty at a suitable time, in modern day aircraft, in particular in wide-bodied passenger aircraft, relaxation facilities are provided which make it possible for at least part of an aircrew to relax or to rest, for example to read a book or to sleep.
Various solutions for such relaxation facilities may be provided.
For example, in an aircraft, crew rest compartments may be provided that are usually special, separate spaces with seating facilities or lying-down facilities and which as a rule are exclusively used by members of the aircrew.
However, such a crew rest compartment takes up useful space in an aircraft, which space with a different interior setup could have been used for the transport of further passengers or additional freight.
In addition, crew rest compartments usually have a heavy intrinsic weight and due to their design as large monuments in an aircraft interior they cannot be removed or reconfigured at short notice when required; in any case they must thus be left as dead mass in the aircraft.
As a further relaxation facility a regular passenger seat, for example in economy class, may be reserved for a member of an aircrew, which seat is then usually separated from the rest of the passenger cabin by means of a curtain.
Even if a regular passenger seat is used, space is lost which could otherwise have been made available for a paying passenger, i.e. revenue space is lost. Furthermore, regular passenger seats usually provide only little comfort and little privacy when used as relaxation facilities.
Furthermore, the use of a high-comfort cabin attendant seat (CAS) as a relaxation facility is imaginable. Such a high-comfort cabin attendant seat may provide more comfort than an economy class passenger seat, for example by means of a contoured design with a tiltable backrest and additional legrest. Moreover, the use of corresponding business class seats or first class seats is imaginable.
While a high-comfort cabin attendant seat may provide improved relaxation comfort, it nevertheless, however, does not usually provide a flat area for lying down. Furthermore, due to its contoured form the sleeping comfort may be restricted.
Patent specification DE 10 2004 035 160 A1 or WO 2006/008 151 A1 describes a modular wall construction system for aircraft cabins, wherein by means of connecting elements individual prefabricated wall construction panels can quickly and without any additional tools be installed on the cabin floor so as to form spaces of various size and geometry.
Patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,704 describes convertible seat-bed equipment in which a seat with a tilted backrest can be converted to a bunk-type lying-down facility.
Conventional relaxation facilities for an aircrew thus usually provide little comfort or privacy, or else require a significant amount of space in an aircraft.